Bobby Fischer detained in Japan (updated)

7/16/2004 – It's the latest twist in the sad tale of American former world champion Bobby Fischer. He has been detained in Japan and faces possible deportation to the US to face charges for playing in Yugoslavia in 1992. Fischer's website says he was "very nearly killed" in Japan. The story has been picked up by news services all over the world.

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The final chapter for Fischer?

First reports came in saying that Bobby Fischer "has been viciously attacked brutalized seriously injured
and very nearly killed when he was illegally detained and arrested by the Japanese
immigration authorities at Narita international airport in Tokyo Japan."
The site also says Fischer "urgently requests at immediate offer of
political asylum from a friendly third country".

A few hours later The
Washington Post provided more information.
(Free registration required.) Some excerpts:

The hunt for Bobby Fischer, the unpredictable chess legend, ended this
week when he was detained in Japan, where he awaits possible deportation on
charges that he attended a 1992 match in Yugoslavia in violation of a U.S.
ban.

The Japanese Immigration Bureau detained the 61-year-old Fischer on Tuesday
at Narita International Airport in Tokyo at the urging of U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, which had recently stepped up efforts to track the
fugitive, U.S. authorities said yesterday.

"He's in custody in Japan, and we are awaiting a determination whether
he'll be deported back to the United States to face charges," said Allan Doody,
special agent in charge of the immigration agency's Washington field office.

U.S. authorities, acting on the outstanding warrant, recently canceled
Fischer's U.S. passport after discovering that he had a 90-day visa to visit
Japan. Authorities there detained him at the airport for failing to possess
valid travel documents, U.S. authorities said.

The warrant for Fischer was issued by a grand jury in 1992 when he violated
US sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a match there against Boris Spassky.
For over a decade it looked like the American government was content to ignore
Fischer as long as he stayed out of the US, but clearly things have changed.

Will Fischer actually be deported and prosecuted in the United States? Judging
from his increasingly wild statements over the past few years the chess legend
is in need of help he is unlikely to seek on his own. His few contacts have
been with sycophants eager to exploit his fame. No matter how this sad story
turns out we wish him good health.

Now the newswires have the story and are running versions of the breaking
news:

The Fischer Indictment

In an article on Chess
News GM Larry Evans and Larry Parr have discussed the indictment of Bobby
Fischer, raising the issue of whether it was a criminal act for an American
citizen to play chess for money in Yugoslavia. "Did Bobby commit a criminal
act when he pushed his king's pawn two squares against Boris Spassky (who is
not being prosecuted by France)?" ask the authors. "Did Bobby become
a gangster when he played 7.b4 in game 11? Arguably, he acted illegally when
he violated an executive order signed by President Bush. An executive order?
Not a law passed by Congress? That's right. The American Leviathan state now
has provisions for locking up people who won't obey the stroke of a president's
pen and, perhaps even worse, who injure the egos of Washington bigwigs by spitting
on their orders."

In 1964 GM Evans enraged the right wing by defying a State Department ban
on Cuba and competing in the Capablanca Memorial. In 1981 Evans enraged the
left wing by lecturing on chess in South Africa. There are always people who
would allow the government to stifle our basic right to travel anywhere in
peacetime.

In the 1950s conservative senator John Bricker (R. Ohio) introduced an amendment
to make the US Constitution the supreme law of the land in all instances. The
amendment failed by one vote, defeated by a coalition of "moderate"
Republicans and liberal Democrats.

So isn't the Constitution now the supreme law of the land? "No,"
reply Evans and Parr, "the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. obligations under
international treaties take precedence over rights guaranteed to citizens in
the Bill of Rights. Bobby Fischer won 10 games, lost 5, drew 15, and got paid
a little over $100,000 for each of those games. Now we are suddenly told that
he is a criminal even though his actions produced no direct victim. He killed
no one and injured no identifiable individual; he just played chess. Except
in the most compelling circumstances, the authors do not believe in punishing
people for victimless crimes."

The conclusion of the two chess columnists: "Where and how to play chess
should be left to the individual conscience. Our conscience would not permit
us to play chess in the Yugoslavia of ethnic cleansers; Bobby's conscience,
assuming that he has one, permits him to take money from evil men who do evil
things. Bobby may not be a man whose hand you would shake. But he is not a
criminal."

See also

2/18/2018 – In his book on Bobby Fischer the Icelandic author Garðar Sverrisson recalls how in his final years his friend shared his fascination for a little-known game with him, and sought an improvement on Black’s play. Fascinated by this reference our columnist Prof Nagesh Havanur retrieved the many decades old game and annotated it, wondering what Fischer would have found and how it would have enriched our understanding of the game.

See also

1/17/2018 – Today, ten years ago, one of the greatest chess players of all time, Robert James Fischer, passed away. He had spent three years in Iceland, two in relative comfort and harmony, but struck by horrendous illness at the end of 2007. He had one true friend who tended to him to the end: Gardar Sverrison, who eight years later wrote a remarkable book on the Fischer he knew and who became part of his family. Today, with Gardar's permission, we bring you very moving excerpts from the final section of his book.

Video

The introductory position of the Kasparov Gambit can occur after 1 d4,1 Nf3 and 1 c4, which can appeal to a wide range of players. The usual move order is 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nf3 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5!? 5 Nb5 d5 6 cxd5 Bc5 bringing us to a very sharp position. On this 60 mins, FIDE Senior Trainer Andrew Martin argues the case from the Black side, showing both classic Kasparov masterpieces and games from the present day and suggests that White's defensive task is not easy. This is a practical gambit which will help players at all levels to win more games. It is ideal for must-win situations with Black. It is a gambit that White cannot decline,as if he does, Black gets a good position instantly. White must take up the cudgels and fight!

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